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SMRs are still huge compared to putting $10k worth of solar panels on a house. They also require a lot of big expensive infrastructure like reprocessing facili
by api 2y ago
SMRs are still huge compared to putting $10k worth of solar panels on a house.
They also require a lot of big expensive infrastructure like reprocessing facilities, expensive safety-escorted transportation, secure facilities, etc.
- pstuart 2y agoYes those things are true; albeit the apple to oranges comparison of a home setup vs community baseload provider. One of the compelling deployment cases is to revamp existing coal fired plants with SMRs, which would be a huge win in addressing climate change. None of this is meant to disparage or dismiss solar and other renewables; it's meant to be complementary.
- api 2y agoWhat I was really getting at was the effect that low incremental cost has on the evolution of the technology. A technology with low incremental unit cost can evolve very rapidly, while high unit cost capital-intensive technologies are slow to evolve. Which will win? Some technologies are inherently high unit cost and capital-intensive. Aerospace is a classic example, and it's why we're still flying on 1970s-tech airplanes and why rockets are just now becoming reusable. Aerospace advances at a crawl because each unit is so expensive.